1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plasma display panel (PDP), and more particularly to an AC (Alternating Current) PDP with an electrode configuration, wherein electrodes are arranged to correspond to each discharge cell between two substrates, the electrodes including address electrodes for the selection of display cells and a pair of display electrodes for display discharge.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a PDP is a display device in which vacuum ultraviolet rays emitted from the plasma generated by gas discharge excite phosphors to emit red, green, and blue visible light and thereby realize predetermined images. The PDP can make a large-scale screen of more than 60 inches with a thickness of less than 10 cm (centimeters), and since it is a self emission display device, the PDP is characterized in that there is no distortion due to view angle and it has outstanding color reproduction. Moreover, its manufacturing process is simpler than that of an LCD, so the PDP has advantages in productivity and cost. Accordingly, this PDP has been highlighted for televisions and flat panel displays for industrial purposes.
A conventional AC PDP includes address electrodes formed along one direction (the X-axis direction of the drawing) on the second substrate, and a dielectric layer formed on an entire surface of the second substrate covering the address electrodes. Over the dielectric layer, a plurality of barrier ribs in a stripe pattern are formed between each of the address electrodes, and phosphor layers of red, green, and blue are formed between each of the barrier ribs.
Further, display electrodes comprised of a pair of transparent electrodes and and a pair of bus electrodes and along the direction intersecting the address electrodes (in the Y-axis direction of the drawing), are formed on a surface of the first substrate opposing the second substrate. A dielectric layer and an MgO protective layer are formed sequentially covering the display electrodes.
Discharge cells are defined in the region where the address electrodes on the second substrate intersect a pair of the display electrodes on the first substrate.
In a PDP with the above structure, more than a million matrix type discharge cell units are arranged. To simultaneously drive matrix type discharge cells of an AC PDP, a memory characteristic is used.
Upon driving, discharge of the AC PDP mostly involves two factors, one of which is a wall charge, and the other uses so-called priming particles.
Since barrier ribs physically separate the unit cells, each cell can discharge independently. However, in reality, many priming particles move freely through the narrow space between the top portion of the barrier ribs and the first substrate. Sometimes the amount of movement is enough to cause a mis-discharge, but this is very unusual. In most cases, the PDP is operated within a range where the mis-discharge does not occur. These priming particles moving through the narrow space between the first substrate and the barrier ribs make it easier for the next discharge to occur.
However, the outermost discharge cells placed adjacent to the edges of the PDP have a disadvantage for driving since the amount of priming particles to be accepted by them is decreased compared with the discharge cells at the center portion (because the adjacent discharge cells exist only at one side thereof), and accordingly, the driving margin of the outermost discharge cells become unstable when the panel is driven.